Evan Williams did not pretend Sunday night will be easy. Facing Dak Prescott with CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens on the outside is, in his words, “hard” — and also exactly the kind of tape the Green Bay Packers secondary wants to put down after weeks against lesser arms.
“Probably just the fact that he can make any throw and he knows that he can make any throw,” Williams said of Prescott. “He’s got a really live arm, and with the weapons he’s got, he trusts them in any opportunity to go make a play. So the same thing that is hard to go against is also an opportunity.”
The Packers host the Cowboys on Sunday Night Football at Lambeau Field after stringing together wins that included stretches against backup quarterbacks. Williams said the next two weeks — against two of the league’s top passing offenses — are when the back end can “prove that we are who we think we are.”
Lamb and Pickens force double attention
Asked how difficult it is with Lamb on one side and Pickens on the other, Williams did not pick a lesser threat. “It’s definitely a challenge,” he said. “You’ve got to keep them both into account of where they’re aligned, what potential mismatches they’re searching. It requires twice the attention … because they’re both guys that are live after the catch.”
He said Dallas likes to isolate those receivers outside and that Prescott has “no hesitation” of going up and letting them win one-on-ones. That puts pressure on the safeties to disguise. “It puts a lot more importance and pressure on disguise, trying to show him something else so that he doesn’t know that he has one-on-one on the outside before the ball’s snapped.”
Williams pointed to a recent Cowboys game in which Lamb piled up receptions when a defense stayed in two-high and made the slot look easy against a linebacker. Fooling a veteran like Prescott, he added, is tougher than tricking a typical quarterback. “He’s seen most of the looks that have come his way. … You’re probably going to have to hold it a little longer.”
Relish the ball in the air
Williams said the secondary’s mentality is to attack, not brace. “If you’re hesitant in any facet, that’s when you get exploited as a defense,” he said. “As a back end, you’re licking your chops for opportunities like this when the ball’s going to be in the air.”
Daily work against Matthew Golden and Christian Watson in practice is the prep he trusts most. “Having to guard that type of speed and that type of explosiveness … you’d like to think that definitely preps you for opportunities like this.”
On Lamb still producing when everyone in the stadium knows where the ball is going, Williams kept it simple: “Pretty remarkable. … When one person’s not getting the targets, it’s really easy for four to go to the other guy. Their ability to backpack off one another makes them very dynamic as an offense.”
Then he circled back to the job description. “That’s the NFL. That’s our job. And we’re going to do our best to strap them up.”
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